Olympus SP-310 Review

Olympus released a 7 megapixel and an 8 megapixel version of its SP compact digital camera line. Today, thanks to dpreview.com, we have a review of the 7 megapixel version — the Olympus SP-310. What did dpreview.com think of tjos point and shoot with 3x optical zoom?

Pros:

• Bright, vivid and sharp results
• Low noise at low ISO settings, still fairly low at ISO 400
• Comprehensive photographic controls
• Rugged, lightweight construction and excellent handling
• Lots of scene/subject modes
• Huge range of advanced features including in-camera raw editing
• Highly customizable: menu customization, shortcut button, ‘MyModes’
• Large, clear screen
• Very little purple fringing
• Good ‘super macro’ mode
• Good flash exposures
• Good battery life
• Excellent value for money

Cons:

• Images a touch over-sharpened
• Occasional white balance problems in scenes with one predominant color
• Some smearing of low contrast detail (such as foliage and hair) – no worse than most competitors
• Mild exposure problems in high contrast / bright scenes
• Slow flash recycling
• Writing to xD picture card slow
• Raw mode has 10 second shot-to-shot time
• Focus can be slow in low light

Conclusion: It’s the ideal ‘first camera’ for someone wanting to learn the craft of photography, yet has enough subject/scene modes to keep even the most adventurous ‘point and shoot’ user happy. Of course buying a camera at the low end of the price scale is always going to bring compromise – in the case of the SP-310 it’s that some aspects of operation are on the slow side, especially card writing and flash recycling.